New light shed on mammals
Print Edition
Chinese paleontologists have found mammalian middle ears in fossils dating back about 160 million years, shedding new light on the evolution of the mammalian auditory structure.
The study, which was recently published online in the journal Nature, deals with a fossil of a haramiyidan, a small squirrel-like animal from the Middle Jurassic period.
In modern mammals, the middle ear, composed of three auditory bones called ossicles, is detached from the jaw joint and is only responsible for hearing, said Bi Shundong, the paper鈥檚 corresponding author and a researcher at Yunnan University.
But in early mammals and reptiles, two of these auditory bones form part of the jaw joint and serve for both hearing and chewing.
The fossilized middle-ear bones described in the study are detached from the jaw joint.
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